The Voice of the Martyrs' blog, sharing powerful stories and timely information that invites and inspires American Christians into fellowship with their persecuted family around the world.

Posts from November 2012

November 30, 2012

A draft constitution was passed today by Egypt's constituent assembly, after many representatives—including Coptic Christians—had left the room to protest the process. Several articles of the constitution raise concerns for Christians who fear that more persecution may be coming in Egypt under President Mohamed Morsi's government.

I was asked today by a reporter what this means for Christians in Egypt. I wish I could answer that! I do know that Christians are worried about what the future holds for them in their country. Will religious minorities be protected? Will a person have the freedom to change their religion under a constitution that says "the principles of Islamic Shariah" will be the "principle source of legislation?"

I don't know the answers to those questions. But I do know this: God's spirit is not stopped by constitutions or man's laws.

As I watch what is happening in Egypt today, I am reminded of when the ayatollahs came to power in Iran (even though I was only 9 years old!). The mullahs took over, and they immediately adopted Shariah law and told the people of Iran, "We are going to run the whole country according to Islam. Finally we can be all that we're supposed to be as a country, because we are doing everything according to the Koran and Allah's will."

At the time, many wondered what would happen to the church in Iran. Many feared it would be wiped out. How would they survive such oppression? How would the gospel go forth?

Today we are 30+ years down the road, and the church in Iran is one of the fastest growing churches in the whole WORLD. People are coming to Christ in droves. One Iranian worker told me a couple of years ago that if you shared the gospel with 10 Iranians, five of them would choose to follow Christ immediately; the people of Iran are that hungry for Truth!

A significant source of their hunger is Islam. They've been told that their country is being run according to true Islam. So when the government fails, the people see it as the failure of Islam. Questioning the government means questioning Islam. And almost everyone in Iran is questioning the government! And they are HUNGRY to find another way, and Jesus is truly The Way.

So as we see political and constitutional battles going on in Egypt, and as it appears more and more likely Islam will become the driving force of the government and the authorities there, it is tempting to get discouraged. But we must remember that God is still at work and out of this He can grow and strengthen and build His church. I pray that if there is an Islamic government in Egypt, it will produce the same result as the Islamic government in Iran: tens of thousands of Egyptians finding the Way, the Truth and the Life in Jesus Christ.

Todd Nettleton has served the persecuted church and VOM almost 15 years. He has been interviewed more than 1800 times by various media outlets. He's the author of Restricted Nations: North Korea, and served on the writing team for FOXE, Extreme Devotion, Hearts of Fire and other VOM books.

November 29, 2012

From the minute I stepped into VOM’s offices for a college internship, I felt welcomed and loved – and very much disturbed. While a warm lady greeted me and an office manager gave me a tour, I couldn’t take my eyes off the pictures on the walls. A young boy whose limbs were burned. An Asian woman smiling brightly, her face disfigured beyond recognition. A man and his family standing outside what used to be their home. A lump caught in my throat. I shifted in my sandals. My life was about to be turned upside down.

On the second-floor news department where I spent three months copyediting, transcribing and writing, the peace of Jesus prevailed with an undercurrent of urgency. As a college sophomore, it was thrilling – breathtaking! – to have a front-row seat to the most important news on the planet. Popular syndicates do not cover it, but this breaking news from our persecuted family was precious to VOM staff. A pastor was released in China! We would celebrate. A Christian village was ransacked and burned. We would pray. I came to realize that it was good to be disturbed by those pictures lining the walls and stories filling my inbox. Because when we are disturbed, we do something about it.

It was in this environment of communion with the persecuted church where God got my attention about His agenda for my life. As I heard stories from Indonesia and Nigeria and Iran I started piecing things together. What was the common thread running through these nations and their persecutors? It was like a light bulb came on for me: Islam.

One of the best things about working at VOM was staff chapel. Each week, chapel was an encouraging time of worship and prayer, as well as a refreshing break from my cubicle! That summer, an Egyptian sister spoke about living in the heart of the Muslim world with “Kingdom mentality.” In her ministry she sought to plant the attitudes and mindset of the Kingdom of God, preparing the way for the Good News. She explained that Muslims must first be won to the mentality of a Christian before they are ready to receive the truth of the Gospel.

That got me thinking. Could I live among Muslims with a Kingdom mentality? Like this sister from Egypt, could I relate and respond to Muslims in a Christ-like way, clearing a space for the Gospel to take root and grow? God was developing in me a love for the most frequent persecutors of Christians. He was clearly calling me to be a laborer among Muslims.

After that summer at VOM, I returned to my university deeply changed and motivated to make my life count for the Kingdom. Walking into a packed lecture hall that fall, I took a deep breath and scanned the room.

One. Just one woman wearing a floral-print headscarf. She was sitting near the back of the hall, and there was an empty seat beside her. There was no mistaking the Spirit’s voice. You are my witness. And there is your seat.

That was ten years ago. Today, I am privileged to continue ‘taking my seat’ among Muslim women by living and ministering in the Muslim world. Whether from a mat on the floor or atop an ornate sofa, I laugh with my friends, hear their stories, and share Kingdom values little by little. Yes, the stories of the persecuted church disturbed me as I walked the halls of VOM, yet they inspired me to action. Perhaps we could all use a little more of that kind of disturbance.

Editor’s note: The author of this post was one of the first college interns to spend a summer working and learning at VOM. Because she is involved in gospel work in the Middle East, we cannot share her name. VOM’s internship program is available to students who have completed at least their sophomore year in college. CLICK HERE for more information.

November 28, 2012

Water is an immediate need for Christians displaced by conflict in Sudan. VOM worked with one of our Sudan partners, Persecution Project Foundation, to provide this well for the community in Jaac, South Sudan.

November 27, 2012

Last month I visited Nepal to meet with and interview persecuted Christians. One of the brothers we met was a young pastor who'd been attacked by radicals just months before our visit. He was beaten up for trying to perform a Christian funeral and burial for a member of his church who'd died. I want to share a portion of our conversation, where he talked about the challenge of forgiving those who had attacked him:

Todd: Have you forgiven the people who beat you?

"Brother S": Yes, I forgive them.

T: How?

S: It is very difficult to forgive anybody that I am knowing and receive forgiveness from people. When I was praying and I understood, when reading Bible I understood that I have to forgive because the Lord says if you don't forgive others you will not be forgiven. So at that time the words were pricking my heart. Because…I have also done some other wrong things, some mistakes, so the Lord is working so I have to forgive. The compulsion was coming from [my] heart and I said okay Lord – the Lord was speaking to me: "Forgive them. [Those who attacked you] have to come to the Lord – they have to come to Me." The Lord was speaking to me. Then I said yes, they have to come – I have to work with them so they will come to Christ. I said okay – I forgive.

T: How long after the attack was that when you were able to forgive them?

S: For one week, I couldn't sleep. But after one month I could forgive.

T: So for one week afterwards you couldn't sleep. Then after one month you were really able to forgive from your heart?

S: Yes.

One of the amazing things I find as I meet with persecuted Christians is their ability to forgive those who attack and persecute them. And beyond even forgiveness, they show love and pray for God's blessings on them.

In Brother S's case, this was a month-long process involving much prayer and wrestling with God before he came to the point of forgiving. I remember meeting the widow of a martyred Christian who said she never felt anger or hatred for the men who killed her husband; forgiveness came to her as a gift from God almost instantaneously.

Most American Christians don't deal with persecution first-hand. We are not attacked for our faith, beaten for our beliefs or forced to bury martyred family members.

But all of us are called to forgive. All of us must ask God to help us work through the pain and frustration of being wronged and come to the point of forgiving. Next time you face that challenge, I hope you'll remember Brother S and be encouraged by his example.

Todd Nettleton is the Director of Media Development for The Voice of the Martyrs. More stories of persecuted Nepali Christians will be featured in VOM's February, 2013 newsletter. If you are a U.S. resident, you can click here subscribe to the newsletter.

November 26, 2012

Some months ago VOM's newsletter staff asked VOM workers who travel overseas and meet with persecuted Christians to share the stories that had most impacted them as they'd travelled. Several shared stories of Christians that had become personal heroes to them. Dory P. shared this story of her hero, a Christian woman in Nigeria:

I think about Rose Northcott almost every time I pray. I met her while interviewing Christian widows who had lost their husbands in sectarian violence in northern Nigeria. Rose wasn't just sympathetic to the widows — she was one of them. She lost her husband in a religious riot in Kaduna, Nigeria, in 2001. When the riots broke out, her pastor husband donned his clerical collar and left to check on the church. Rose never saw her husband again; he was beaten and stabbed by a Muslim mob. After we prayed with several of the widows, Rose asked me why I often finished my prayer with the words "In your name, amen." Rose said, "There is power in the name of Jesus. I don't know how it is in America, but in Nigeria we need the power of that name when we pray." Now I never pray without using that name.

Rose is my hero. She is my hero not only because of what she suffered through the loss of her husband but also because of how she came through it. Her deep spiritual life is the foundation on which she is rebuilding her life as a widow. She has a new role as caretaker of the many Christian widows VOM supports in Nigeria. Each month, she gathers the widows so they can share their difficulties and worship God together. She checks in on them each month, making sure none are forgotten.

I pray that I can someday be a woman like Rose — strong, loving and serving Christ among those who hate him. In the name of Jesus, amen.

This article reprinted from The Voice of the Martyrs newsletter. To receive the newsletter at your home (available to US residents only), sign up here. You may also be encouraged by this video of a persecuted Nigerian pastor sharing about his suffering and how VOM has encouraged his ministry. You can support widows of martyred pastors, like Rose, through VOM's Families of Martyrs Fund.

November 23, 2012

This week David shares prayer updates for the countries of Egypt, North Korea and
Iran. Following the prayer updates, a VOM worker shares his thoughts on
remaining thankful during tribulation in the Middle East.

Somalia (MNN) ― As if in answer to the capture of 300 Al-Shabaab
members last month in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, the attacks on
civilians have gotten more extreme and more public.

The latest attack came last Friday when Islamic extremists brutally
murdered a Christian in the city of Barawa, in broad daylight. Voice of the Martyrs USA
spokesman Todd Nettleton explains, "In this case, it is a 25-year-old
man named Farhan Haji Mose. He apparently became a Christian in 2010,
out of a Muslim background."

Nettleton goes on to say that Mose "had a business in Somalia which
required him to travel to Kenya. It's thought that he met Christians
while he was in Kenya, received the Gospel, and received Christ."
Muslim extremists then tracked Mose for six months, to confirm his
Christian activity before catching him and accusing him of being a spy
and leaving Islam, Christian and Muslim witnesses said.

Al Shabaab members caught up with Mose in the coastal city of Barawa in
Somalia. He was accused, and convicted by the impromptu "court," while
a crowd assembled to witness the sentence that comes with an apostasy
conviction. Nettleton clarifies that "in the minds of a radical Islamic
militant, these people are apostates. They've left to follow another
religion. The just punishment is execution."

Mose was summarily beheaded, and then his body was desecrated as a
warning for others. "Their goal is to rid Somalia of Christianity,"
notes Nettleton. The number of Christians who have been tracked down
and murdered has been growing over the last couple of years. What's
more, he adds, is ominous news that the religicide isn't held to
Somalia's borders. "We've heard reports that Al Shabaab literally has a
list of people they are looking for who are suspected of having left
Islam and being Christians."

Chaos normally creates more chaos. "The goal of Al Shabaab is to create
fear, to create control. What better way to do that than to show
publicly what happens to somebody who leaves Islam to follow another
faith?" Al-Shabaab is enforcing a harsh interpretation of sharia in the
territories it controls. This militia was strongly radicalized through
the external influence of al-Qaeda in recent years.

In the confusion of a failed state and the presence of uncontrolled
militias, the result is anarchy. Christians are extra vulnerable these
circumstances. This is where Voice of the Martyrs can help. While they
can't reveal everything they're doing, says Nettleton, "One of the
things that we are doing is providing safe houses for Christian
converts. As we talk about this case, the Muslims who come to faith in
Christ know very well the risks they face. So sometimes, having a place
to go where they're safe--not only where they can be safe, but where
they're discipled--is an incredible blessing."

Safe houses means someone needs them, which means Al Shabaab has not
wholly succeeded in stopping the Gospel or ridding the country of
Christians. Muslim-background believers (MBBs) do not have organized
church groups because of the risk. They exist as individual secret
believers and can only know a few others to make an underground group.
According to reports from Open Doors, the largest known group in Somalia
is composed of five believers.

What can you do? Prayer is the first defense. It's often the only thing
a church under fire requests. Ask the Lord to give wisdom to
authorities in Somalia. Pray that the Lord will bring an end to Al
Shabaab's activities and influence in Somalia and in bordering nations.
Pray that Christians will not retaliate in anger, but will show
Christ-like love and forgiveness to their persecutors.

Thank you all for praying for this weeks prayer requests, even though it is Black Friday and most people are shopping to their hearts content. I'm thankful that you have remembered the persecuted church today and would ask that you would share these requests with your praying friends.

Sarah Abdelmalek, 14, is the latest victim of a common
practice of kidnapping Coptic Christian girls and forcing them to marry
their Muslim kidnappers. Sarah was last seen Sept. 30, 2012, entering a
paper shop near her school. A VOM worker says that at least 24 girls
have been kidnapped recently, ranging in age from 14 to 21 years old.
Sarah is the youngest. Even if Sarah wanted to marry voluntarily, under
Egyptian law, she would have to wait until she turned 18. After
Sarah’s father filed a missing persons report, he received a phone call
telling him he would never see his daughter again. According to a
school friend, the 27-year-old paper shop owner, a member of an
extremist Sunni Muslim group called the Salafists, had been pursuing
Sarah for a while. On Oct. 28, a Salafist organization issued a
statement saying that Sarah converted to Islam freely and married a
Muslim man. Fundamentalist Muslims are encouraged to kidnap Christian
girls and marry them as part of a strategy to limit and intimidate the
Christian population in Egypt. The kidnappers insist that the girls
convert to Islam of their own will, ensuring that the girls will not be
returned to their families. Pray for comfort for this family, and pray
that the government will defend the Copts in Egypt.

North Korea—Student Realizes Need to Forgive North KoreaSource: VOM Contacts

A lesson on forgiveness showed a North Korean
Christian that she needed to forgive Kim Il-Sung and the North Korean
government. “KES” is a North Korean participating in a discipleship and
training program in South Korea. The students learn Christian
principles, how to share their faith and how to adapt to South Korean
culture. In a recent class, a trainer taught on forgiveness and had the
students role-play the parable of the unforgiving servant. Later, KES
shared that she was angry with Kim Il-Sung and the North Korean
government for the lies they told. She realized she needed to forgive
them, because God forgave her. She said she couldn’t do it without
God’s help. Pray for KES and other North Koreans in this school.

Cyber police raided the home of a Christian blogger in
Gorgan for the second time recently. Police appeared at the residence
of Alireza Ebrahimi, a convert to Christianity, with a warrant for his
arrest last week. They didn’t find Alireza, so instead they raided his
apartment — without a warrant. Alireza, a Christian blogger, had used
Facebook and other social media to evangelize other Iranians. Police
first sought to arrest him on May 27. When they didn’t find him,
authorities visited the homes of his two friends and arrested them.
Those men are charged with propagating against Islam and acting against
national security. There is no information available on their
whereabouts. Three days later, authorities appeared again at Alireza’s
house and confiscated his laptop, articles, notebooks and books. Pray
for Alireza and other Christian converts in Iran.

November 21, 2012

This year as we contemplate all of the blessings that the Lord has given us, I would like to just remind you of the awesome goodness of who Jesus is. As Christians, we rejoice that we have a real living God and King and we know that all who desire to truly live a godly life in Christ Jesus, will be persecuted. That's a promise in scripture that may not be a touchy feely promise, but honestly, it is a promise and we see it daily here on the blog.

One thing I have learned in my almost eight years of writing this blog and updating it daily, is that those who have been persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ are joyful and peaceful. This doesn't mean that they don't feel pain or sorrow, but it does mean that they realize they are receiving a gift from God, and in some cases, even the gift of martyrdom.

The scriptures discuss the martyrs and how God blesses the faithfulness of those who follow Him in persecution.

The scripture also reveals how the Lord is going to overcome all of those who have persecuted Him.

Revelation 17:14 says, "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them:
for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful."

This is why we have hope in the midst of persecution, because we know God does not lie and we know that the Lamb of God will overcome.

We have shared numerous times about the plight of Pastor Benham Irani who is suffering for his faith in Christ, while in an Iranian prison and today I wanted to just remind you about him and ask you to write a letter and pray for him and his family.

Unfortunately, Pastor Benham is in poor health and some reports have said that there is a possibility that he could die because he's so sick. Only God knows what is in His good and perfect will, please pray accordingly.

Please click here to write a letter using our Prisoner Alert page. Please also take some time to watch this video from our friends at Christian Solidarity Worldwide.